Michelle O’s menu ‘financial disaster,’ school district says

GLENDALE, Wis. – Calling it a “financial disaster,” another school district is dropping out of the recently overhauled National School Lunch Program.

Nicolet High School in Wisconsin’s Glendale school district says because of it’s financial losses last school year, it’s opting out for the 2014-15 school year.

“We thought it would be a financial disaster for us this year with the full implementation (of the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act),” district business manager Jeff Dellutri said at a recent school board meeting, according to Glendalenow.com.

Healthy foods are required under the Healthy Hunger-Free Kids Act, which will be fully implemented this year. But Vicky Hanson, the district’s food service director, said foods like black beans, kale and whole grains just end up in the trash at the end of the lunch hour.

“We put it out, but they just don’t take it,” she said. “It’s always in the trash.”

Dellutri told the board the district lost about $10,000 by being forced to serve “healthy” food students refuse to eat.

Glendale is the latest Wisconsin district to revolt under the federal regulations.

Earlier this month, Muskego-Norway school board president Rick Petfalski told the Journel Sentinel, “We believe that proper food nutrition and meal portion guidelines are best decided at a local level.”

“By leaving the program we will not be required to follow these onerous guidelines, pushed by and large by Michelle Obama, who last I checked has been elected by no one,” Petfalski said, EAGnews reported at the time.